It’s hard not to be awed by the giant water-spewing mammals that pass by the Palos Verdes Peninsula every holiday season, and that was especially true as avid watchers clocked an unusually abundant number of sightings along the coast in December.

Scientists aren’t exactly sure what’s bringing the creatures out into sight in such numbers, but the theories emerging seem to have a common theme: humans.

Whale watchers not only reported a high number of gray whale sightings, those 45-foot creatures that make an annual migration to Mexico, but also an unusual diversity of other whales like the rarely seen Orca or killer whale and sperm whales, along with the massive blue whale.

Another idea floating around is that the nearby ocean is actually a bit cleaner and the animals are coming in to feast.

Either way, it’s a miraculous reminder that how our lives are lived has impacts around the world.

That was certainly the message earlier this year when biologists reported that a massive 9,900 pound sperm whale washed up on a Spanish beach had ingested a whopping 37 pounds of plastic waste.

Much of it was sheeting used to build greenhouses, but there were also plastic bags, another danger to marine life.

Again and again scientists have documented cases of dead whales and other marine life with bellies full of plastic bags, fishing nets and other debris.

Humans unintentionally dictate these mammals’ diet.

The migration patterns and worlds under the sea may not be something that land-dwellers worry much about, but this time of year in Southern California those close to the coast are getting a bit of joy from these mysterious mammals.

And that brings us to the new year.

Los Angeles instituted its plastic bag ban Wednesday, and while some grouse about the inconvenience, it’s one small step toward cleaning up not only our shores but our seas.

It’s the least that we can do to help ensure that those giant animals integral to our marine ecosystem keep blowing.